SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron
Overview SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, often simply referred to as SWAT Kats, is an American animated series created by Christian Tremblay and Yvon Tremblay and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series is set in a world where the dominant species are anthropomorphic "Kats" with an impressive level of scientific and technological advancement and particularly revolves around the titular vigilante duo of T-Bone and Razor. They use a wide array of advanced vehicles and specialized weapons, the Turbokat fighter jet being most notable, to protect their home of Megakat City, a large metropolis, from various threats including technology pirates, mad scientists, mutants, advanced mechs, even various supernatural threats and extraterrestrials. The series ran from 1993 to 1994 for 2 seasons and consists of a total of 23 released episodes plus 1 special and 6 unfinished episodes. The series was very positively received during its run and was among the most popular syndicated animated shows of 1994. However, Turner Entertainment, the then owners of Hanna-Barbera, were displeased with the level of violence and portrayals of death in the series. This would lead to delays in merchandising and the eventual cancellation of the series. The Tremblay brothers have announced a Kickstarter campaign to revive SWAT Kats, called SWAT Kats Revolution, with the aim being to continue the series and perhaps also make a 70 minute film. Warner Animation had expressed some interest but ultimately passed on the project. Christian Tremblay is supposedly working with investors to independently produce new episodes of the SWAT Kats and make them available online for streaming. Power of this verse The series is set in a world where the dominant species are humanoid cats. They are technologically more advanced than early 21st Century CE humanity in the real world. They have developed advanced hypersonic fighters, handheld directed energy weapons capable of wall to building level destruction, mechs ranging from wall busting footsoldiers to monstrosities capable of destroying cities single-handedly, advances in genetics to the point of creating plant-animal hybrid monsters, wiring which is superconducting at room temperature, even mountain busting super-lasers. There is also an extra-terrestrial race which boats of a gigantic mothership capable of draining all of a planet's water and potentially wiping out all life on the planet if it were to crash into it at high enough velocity. The verse also has a good deal of supernatural threats ranging from wall to building busting sorcerers capable of time manipulation to large demons and monsters capable of destroying 100+ storey skyscrapers in a single blow or causing large city level environmental destruction. On the whole however, it is not all that strong a verse. SWAT Kats Revolution, if ever it takes off, will be a continuation of the series and could potentially see the verse getting more powerful characters and more feats. Terms Kat: In this verse, the term 'kat' refers to the sentient humanoid cats who are the dominant species on their world. They have achieved a level of scientific and technological advancement beyond that of early 21st century humanity (as detailed above) and seem to have a society mostly similar to ours. Megakat City: The series revolves around this one large metropolis. It appears to be based on the real life New York City, with the most notable clue being the Megakat Trade Towers, which are clearly based on the real life World Trade Center twin towers (which were destroyed in September 2011). The city is governed by a democratically elected Mayor, who is free to choose their own Deputy Mayor. Lasers: While there are true directed energy weapons and true laser/beam weapons in this verse, most of the small arms and various vehicle mounted weapons in the series are often referred to as "lasers" despite not being lasers and they are explicitly stated to fire bullets by at least one character. In many scenes, you can clearly make out bullets with trailing beams and you can also see pistols and rifles clearly ejecting what appear to be spent shell casings. The "laser" thing was likely done as a form of censorship. An in-universe explanation for this could be that most weapons in the verse work in a manner similar to Wookiee Bowcasters from Star Wars and fire projectiles encased in plasma. This would explain why shots from even small pistols in the verse make small explosions when they hit as well as their destructive power (a single shot from some pistols can make a fist sized hole in a solid brick wall and blast off thick tree branches). Enforcers: A paramilitary force responsible for both law enforcement in as well as military defence of Megakat City. They boast of military grade hardware including powerful small arms, swift armored cars, tanks, helicopter gunships, even fighter jets. Their skyscraper-like headquarters is located in the heart of the city and the top part boasts of helicopter landing pads and even a few hundred metre long runway for their jets. Puma-Dyne: A center for weapons research and development on Megekat City's outskirts. The super advanced and extremely destructive weapons they produce make Puma-Dyne a target of many of the series' villains. Supporters/Opponents of the Verse Supporters: * Soldier Blue *Sans2345 Neutral: Opponents: Characters SWAT Kats *Chance "T-Bone" Furlong *Jake "Razor" Clawson Enforcers *Commander Ulysses Feral *Lieutenant Felina Feral Antagonists Pastmaster Dr. Viper *Plantimals *Giant Bacteria Dark Kat *Creeplings Metallikats *Mac Mange *Molly Mange Hard Drive Rex Shard Ci-Kat-A Lenny Ringtail / Madkat Turmoil Katchu Pichu *Mummy Commando Agracite Scorpion Volcanus SWAT Kats (Dark Side) *T-Bone (Dark Side) *Razor (Dark Side) Micro-Brain Repair Unit / Zed Weapons & Vehicles Turbokat Cyclotron Enforcer Chopper Enforcer Jet Enforcer Peacekeeper Blue Manx Enforcer Behemoth Doomsday Express Black Widow Metallikat Express Macrobots Category:SWAT Kats Category:Verses Category:Cartoons Category:Cartoon Network Category:Hanna-Barbera